Throughout his life, Rick Hansen has been passionate about healthy ecosystems and has experienced first-hand the power of outdoor spaces to transform wellbeing. Unfortunately, too many of our natural spaces are inaccessible to people with disabilities, resulting in inequities and exclusion. In fact, it’s been identified by persons with disabilities as a significant priority need.
Thanks to generous support from the Peterson Family Foundation and Power to Give, RHF is working with local non-profits to remove barriers to accessibility in the outdoors for people with disabilities through the RHF Accessible Outdoors Program. The program is built upon three key pillars:
Everyone in Nature - seeking to enable people with disabilities to access natural environments.
Difference Makers - engaging an expanding network of inclusion-focused individuals and organizations to remove barriers in their respective organizations and communities.
Knowledge Generation - obtaining knowledge, both lived experience and academic, that will be used to inform future programming.
Piloting in the marine environment, the program will engage leaders and individuals with and without disabilities in accessible boating experiences in a unique custom accessible vessel. The custom vessel and its marinas will serve as an inspirational case study for accessibility – and include innovative solutions to barriers such as ramps, wider doors and windows, scissor lifts, speech to text technology, high contrast focal points, specialized headsets, adaptive fishing rods and an accessible washroom. These accessible boating experiences will increase awareness and knowledge of barriers in the natural environment, inspire change and directly enable people with disabilities to access our marine environment. In time, the program will expand to remove barriers and enable access to many more outdoor spaces.
Together let’s ensure all the spaces where we live, work, learn and play are accessible and create a more inclusive and healthy world for everyone!
To learn more email us at info@rickhansen.com